The cyclical nature of the freight market means that fleet operators must always be prepared for the next downturn. With 2025 expected to include rate and volume recoveries for the trucking sector, this is a great time for fleet managers to pursue solutions that will help to build resilience and cost optimization in fleet operations.

Whether your business is considering fleet technology investments directly or simply evaluating which capabilities you’d like your carriers to provide, location data has become a cornerstone of fleet optimization technology. We’ll discuss the benefits of geolocation technology for fleets and the shippers they serve.

Why Fleets Need Geolocation

Some fleets still manage fleet assets with spreadsheets and paper documentation. While this may get the job done, these methods ultimately keep operating costs high because of poor efficiency and low visibility. Without the ability to see where your assets go after they leave the yard–it isn’t easy to make effective decisions regarding the health of your equipment and drivers.

Here are some of the ways location data can help you to elevate and optimize your fleet operations:

Real-Time Visibility

The trucking sector initially resisted asset visibility because drivers felt monitoring their location and activity was invasive. However, many fleets have found that vehicle location data has offered numerous benefits. For example, fleet managers can see if a vehicle stops moving for longer than expected, enabling them to reach out to the driver to ensure everything is okay. Beyond driver safety, asset location data can help fleets improve KPIs like on-time delivery rates and idle time by identifying recurring delays and addressing the underlying problems that cause them.

Route Optimization

The cost of fuel makes up a significant chunk of any transportation budget, so finding ways to burn less fuel is one of the biggest benefits that location data can offer. With geolocation tools, your drivers can avoid long traffic delays, bad weather, road closures, and more, ensuring that they don’t burn unnecessary fuel while idling in traffic, trying to find a way around a closed highway, or waiting out a storm. Minimizing fuel usage and travel times can positively impact your fleet’s bottom line.

Predictive Maintenance

Many fleets get by doing maintenance on a schedule, which can prevent some breakdowns. However, planned maintenance means you’re often replacing perfectly healthy parts, and you still can’t see a breakdown coming when something does go wrong. When you track vehicle location data, tracking and accessing mileage for each vehicle becomes easier. Combined with other visibility solutions that track factors like engine diagnostics, fleet managers can address mechanical issues before they result in unplanned downtime and expensive repair costs.

Vehicle Usage

In manual fleet management, vehicles are often assigned to specific drivers or routes regardless of how far they must travel or how many days they run per week. Tracking and logging geolocation data helps a fleet management system see which vehicles get used most, allowing fleet managers to rotate vehicle usage and avoid excess wear on specific assets. By doing this, all fleet assets will last longer, and fleets will need to invest less frequently in new equipment.

Geolocation Data: Not Just for Fleets

One of the best benefits of fleet location data is the ability to share it with shippers and their customers. When a customer expects a shipment, it’s no longer enough to tell them what day it will come. Narrower delivery windows have risen in popularity in recent years, in part because geolocation data allows trucks to avoid delays and arrive when expected. Fleet dispatchers and managers need to see vehicle locations to make sure they will arrive when expected and avoid damaging customer relationships.

While many shippers don’t have their own fleets, the information above can still help when evaluating carriers or asset-based 3PLs. In today’s market, geolocation data isn’t really a luxury anymore. Shippers need to work with freight service providers that can tell them where shipments are and when they will arrive. Failing to do so can have a detrimental impact on the end-customer experience.

About Phoenix Logistics

Strategic Real Estate. Applied Technology. Tailored Service. Creativity. Flexibility. These fundamentals reflect everything we do at Phoenix Logistics. We provide specialized support in locating and attaining the correct logistics solutions for every client we serve. Most logistic competitors work to win 3PL contracts and then attempt to secure the real estate to support it. As an affiliate of a giant industrial real estate firm, Phoenix Investors, we can quickly secure real estate solutions across its portfolio or leverage its market and financial strength to quickly source and acquire real estate to meet our client’s need.

Frank P. Crivello is a Milwaukee-based developer and Chairman & Founder of Phoenix Investors.